-•- HomeOfficeDigest.com Newsletter - Issue 129 -•-
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THE HOME OFFICE DIGEST NEWSLETTER
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BE YOUR OWN BOSS
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It's tough to be your own boss. Sometimes you have to look at
yourself in mirror and be strong enough to admit you need help.
I see far too many people designing websites who are not even
close to qualified to do so. When you work online, your website
is your store front, your website is your link, your website
is your image. If you were building a brick-and-mortar store
would you cut corners?  Use second-hand gear? Or hire your
14 year old son to build the walls? If you answered "No" then
why in the world would you do these things when it comes to your
online business? Being the boss sometimes means analyzing your
strengths and weaknesses and being strong enough to admit that
you need help. Don't kill your chance at success before it
gets started, be a big enough person to get the help you need.


FEATURED ARTICLE
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ARE YOU SWAPPING CORRECTLY?
by Tom Falco © 2002

Are you taking advantage of the greatest bargaining chip you
have? Your swap list?

Are you swapping more than ezine ads? You should.

Do you need a new digital camera or keyboard? Does your son
want a scooter? Why not swap ads with other businesses so that
you may get merchandise or services for free?

It's done all the time. Newspapers and magazines have done it
for years. They run free ads for hotel rooms, airline tickets,
even limo rides.

You can expand on your swap requests simply by swapping excess
ad space for the merchandise or the service you need.

You should have set fees for your ads for when people want to
buy space. Use this as your guide. You don't have to stick to
the actual rates, but is something to start with.

If you want a scooter and find someone who is willing to swap,
just make an even swap or if you feel your ezine space is more
valuable barter for that. If you are selling one sponsor ad for
$25.00 and the scooter is $50.00, well, that's a no-brainer,
just swap two times and you have your scooter.

If you want a hotel room and it is $200.00 a night and you want
it for three nights ($600.00), then you are getting up in the high
figures. You can swap for the equal amount of rooms or since there
is no money out of either of your pockets, you can swap less ad
space for the rooms or even offer to write a story about the hotel,
depending on your publication, if it fits in with the readership,
this is even more valuable than an ad. Articles always draw more
response and are taken as gospel over ads. They are worth much much
more than ads.

It is better to run a story than running the same hotel ad for
dozens of issues to make up for the price difference. Most
businesses would prefer a story and a couple of ads than just ads.

Your other option is partial trade, perhaps you can get the hotel
room for half price and run the ads accordingly.

The main point here is that you can actually barter for anything.

There are places on line where this is available from barter
companies to swap lists.

Most swap lists deal with ezine publishers swapping with other
publishers for ads but I found one great swap list that will
swap anything. It's called "The Swap-O-Rama" and I have used it
for barter. It's totally free and you can join at eGroups,
mailto:TheSwap-o-rama@yahoogroups.com

Other companies that are available are uBarter at:
http://www.uBarter.com, iBart at http://www.iBart.com or
Itex at http://itexcentral.com . These companies charge
commission fees so unless you want to sign up on a continuing
basis, this may not be worth your efforts. You can list your
item or service and have an on-going swap with anyone interested.
So if the long term is what you are looking for, then these are
excellent.

The advantage to "The Swap-O-Rama" at eGroups is that it is totally
free and you can just enter your swap request at the time you are
interested in swapping and the whole group will get the message
instantly, where at the other barter sites, people don't get instant
email, they just peruse the site at will and if they find you they
find you. But they are great for on-going swaps and barters on a
regular basis.

Either way, it is a great way to save money on items or services
you need by simply swapping your ezine ad space or excess merchandise
or a few hours of your time! Imagine painting someone's house for a
free hotel room or airline tickets.

Try it today, join "The Swap-O-Rama" where there is no obligation
and put up a swap message. ( mailto:TheSwap-o-rama@yahoogroups.com ).
See what responses you get. There is totally no obligation to accept
any offer. The same with the Barter companies. You always have the
final say over who you swap with and even if you want to swap at that
time.

But it's a good way to see if what you have is desired by anyone!
And you may make some great deals and friends in the end!

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Tom Falco is editor of XpectMore.com Marketing eZine and also owns:
http://www.TheDiscountPrinter.com. To subscribe to XpectMore.com
Marketing eZine mailto:ezine@xpectmore.com put "subscribe" in the
subject line or visit: http://www.XpectMore.com


DOWNLOAD OF INTEREST
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If you run a website, and I'm sure you do, then you have to be sure
that your site is open for business 24/7. Since you can't keep an
eye on your website at all hours of the day and night the people at
http://www.web-server-tools.com have designed software to do the
job for you. If you want to be 100% positive that your website is
up and running then you need to get their IPCheck/Uptime monitor
tool. This software can monitor your mail server, web server,
and databases which will make sure all aspects of your server are
properly functioning. Can you afford for your website to be down?
If you answered "No" then you have to get this full-featured server
monitoring software today!


WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?
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>From the time you were in kindergarten your teachers probably
drilled the same thing into your head that mine did ... "Read
the directions carefully before you get started". Just as you
should carefully read the directions before starting a test,
you should carefully read the directions when filling out any
form online. Although website operators should be accommodating
when trying to correct issues caused by mis-filled forms they
are ultimately not the ones at fault. If you, the customer, fill
out a form incorrectly the fault lies at you feet, not at the
fault of the business. With the instant nature of online forms
and the instant gratification often expected in this fast paced
field it is imperative that you follow the instructions to
the letter. Reading the directions only takes a few minutes,
but can save you hours of time in lost productivity.


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